You are right that homeschooling and also being involved in your parents' home-based businesses or any type of entrepreneurial endeavours are a GREAT way for children to learn about real life in a healthy manner.
My son, now 12, had an electrician tell him at age 9 that he already knew stuff about electricity that he didn't learn until Electrician Trade School.
School is pretty much prison for kids. It is not real life. Real life skills are learned by living a real life. So unfortunately most schooled children are delayed compared to children like yours and mine.
Exactly. I think much of what is missing today are actual opportunities for success, failures, and children learning to push their limits and overcome.